The present invention relates to an electronic device and to a method of making an electronic device. In particular, it relates to an electronic device comprising an RFID component.
It is useful to be able to obtain information concerning a particular electronic component or device during its manufacture and/or use. In particular, it is useful to be able to obtain such information remotely.
There have been numerous attempts at providing systems to remotely communicate with electronic devices or components, which may be a whole product or a part of a larger product. One of the commonly used methods is the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) components. In general, these are discrete devices which are manufactured separately from the electronic device and attached either during or after manufacture of the electronic device. Typically, the RFID device acts in a passive manner, i.e. it does not operate in a powered or active manner but instead relies upon an external signal in order to provide energy for it to operate. In practice, the RFID device often comprises an antenna or aerial consisting of coils or spirals of wire. When an external interrogating device emits a radio signal to interrogate the RFID device, the antenna absorbs some of the radio signal which then powers the RFID device to re-emit a radio frequency signal in response. Because of the nature of such a passive mode, the responding signal from the RFID device is of a much lower power than the incoming interrogation signal.
This system is widely used but suffers from a number of disadvantages. Firstly, the RFID device is manufactured in a completely separate process to the manufacture of the tagged electronic device. Thus, a separate manufacturing step is required to correctly attach the RFID device to the electronic device. Furthermore, the RFID device can only operate in a passive mode, thus limiting its usefulness and range.
There is therefore a need to provide an improved RFID device-containing electronic component and method of manufacturing the same.